In the textile industry, yarn is handled by winding yarn from spindles or packages onto other packages. In some of these winders, yarn is wound around an elastic core yarn to form a wrapped elastic yarn. With all winders, yarn is guided by rolls over which the yarn passes and is guided.
The take-up packages and supply packages are arranged so that each package is in contact with a roll and the rolls are mounted on shafts that extend through all or at least a plurality of winding stations on the machine for support of a plurality of rolls on each shaft. Whether the yarn is being unwound or wound, yarn moves over the rolls and onto or off the packages. Since the roll is in contact with the package, movement of the roll rotates the package, therefore facilitating the winding or unwinding operation.
If a problem occurs with one of the rolls and removal of the roll from a shaft is necessary, the machine must be shut down, the shaft removed, and all rolls between the end of the shaft and the roll needing to be removed must be taken off the shaft, after the defective roll is replaced, the other rolls must be returned onto the shaft, and the shaft remounted on the machine. This results in a long down time for the winding machine. Thus, an improved yarn roll is needed to reduce the above-mentioned down time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,281 to Payne, Jr., et al discloses a yarn package having complementary semi-cylindrical halves adapted to be fitted together for insertion into a sleeve of the type onto which a yarn package is built. However, Payne does not disclose either a yarn roll to avoid the above-mentioned problems or any structure for mechanically interlocking the complementary semi-cylindrical yarn package halves together.